COAL- By the Numbers

As a final assessment of hydrocarbon fuels, let’s compare carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions among our list of fuels. CO2 emission is a function of carbon concentration and combustion process of the fuel. Fuel energy research at the Department of Environmental Protection (EPA) and DOE indicate 99% to nearly 100% combustion of with fuels used in vehicles. That means almost all of the atoms in the fuel are converted to either heat or byproducts such as CO2.greenecon.net

Table 1 Energy densities of various energy sources in MJ/kg and in length of time that 1 kg of each material could run a 100W load. Natural uranium has undergone no enrichment (0.7% U-235), reactor-grade uranium has 5% U-235. By the way, 1 kg of weapons grade uranium (95% U-235) could power the entire USA for 177 seconds. All numbers assume 100% thermal-to-electrical conversion. See our energy density of nuclear fuel page for details.

The Top 10 Coal Producers WorldwideFar from being in decline, coal has been growing rapidly as one of the world’s most used resources, and these countries are leading the way.

…Approximately 90% of the total global coal is produced by ten countries with China running in the lead. The statistics below show countries that have substantial coal resources. The data has been based on a wide assortment of material, as well as data acquired from the World Energy Council and both national and international publications…See the list and learn more>>1- China
2- The United States
3- Indiaworldatlas.com

The World’s Biggest Coal ConsumersThe top ten coal consuming countries account for over 85% of the world’s total coal consumption, with China alone consuming as much as rest of the world together. Mining-technology.com profiles the ten biggest coal consumers based on latest coal consumption and production data…Learn more>>

China- China’s coal consumption grew by four percent to 2.75 billion tonnes in 2013 accounting for over half of the world’s total coal consumption in the year. China is also by far…

The United States- The US, a net exporter of coal, consumed 651 million tonnes of coal in 2013 accounting for about 12% of the world’s total coal consumption. It is also the second biggest…

India- India burnt 463.28mt of coal in 2013 accounting for about 8.5% of the world’s total coal consumption. It was also the…mining-technology.com

Conversions-From long ton to metric tonmultiply by 1.016
From short ton to metric tonmultiply by 0.9072Mt – million tonnesMtce – million tonnes of coal equivalent (= 0.697 Mtoe)Mtoe – million tonnes of oil equivalent